


Runner Up

by jackdawq



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-14
Updated: 2013-04-14
Packaged: 2017-12-08 10:17:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/760238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackdawq/pseuds/jackdawq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe Chie would wake up tomorrow and fit right in again after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Runner Up

Chie really hadn't seen it coming.

But that was fine, that was okay. Yosuke and Rise had set up the Pining-For-Souji-Seta Club (Inaba Division) pretty much as soon as they'd heard, but Chie? Totally happy for both Souji and Yukiko. Together. Her two favourite friends made a good-looking couple - and if Chie had spent every night since she'd found out running and training almost till she dropped, well, that was fine too. Yukiko was busy most evenings anyway.

...Maybe _that_ was the problem. Yukiko was either at the inn or with Souji, and who wouldn't miss their best friend? She had better things to do now, Chie _got_ that, but they – they'd always been close, you know? Inseparable. Yosuke used to joke about it, until he got wrapped up in moping around after Souji.

Chie didn't mope. Never had, never would. She'd only come to the girls' bathroom to wash her face and give her best friends some privacy up on the school roof. They'd all gone up there together to eat lunch, originally. Then Souji and Yukiko had just _looked_ at each other: this moon-eyed sort of thing you only saw in TV dramas, when the music swelled in the background, and you were so convinced sparkles would appear that you switched channels to some awesome action movie instead.

After that, the bathroom had seemed like the best bet.

She just needed to clear her head. Then she'd go to class and sit behind Yukiko and have Souji help her with the answers to Kashiwagi's pop quiz questions, and everything would be okay again. They'd get around all this. Changes didn't always have to be bad, right? And they really _did_ make a great couple. The story fit. Yukiko had finally found her real prince. She didn't need Chie's version now.

The problem was, Chie hadn't figured out how to be anything else.

The bathroom door squeaked open. Rise slipped inside and closed the door behind her.

Rise was great. A really sweet girl. Also, someone Chie totally did not want to deal with right now. She dunked her cupped hands under the water again, and splashed it onto her face.

"Hey, Chie-senpai," Rise said, hopping up and perching on the counter next to the sink.

Chie kept her gaze on the taps. "Hi, Rise-chan."

Neither of them spoke for a bit. That might be how it was going to be now, without Yukiko. Clumsy and awkward. The team had always worked a certain way: Souji as the leader, Yosuke as the second-in-command, the kouhai as a three pack, Ted just being Ted, then Chie and Yukiko, side by side at the food court table. There'd always been someone there to laugh at Chie's dumb jokes and be the smart one and ignore half the male population of Yasogami to hang out with her instead.

Souji Seta, Chie guessed, was just different. Maybe it was her own fault for getting so wrapped up in one other person – but it was Yukiko. It'd _always_ been Yukiko.

"So, are you okay?" Rise's voice cut in.

Chie blinked, startled. "Oh. Yeah. I'm fine." She met Rise's eyes in the mirror and tried for a smile. "Just kinda warm."

Rise hummed thoughtfully, but didn't say anything else.

Which was awful. _Anyone_ could talk to Rise. Rise could fill up fifty million years of silence and barely break to breathe - and now Chie was screwing this conversation up too. Maybe she just didn't work right without Yukiko around. But she'd just have to learn how, because save for Yosuke and Rise, everyone seemed to think Souji and Yukiko getting together was the best thing ever.

Well, that wasn't totally true. Ted kept lamenting that he'd never scored with Yuki-chan, Naoto seemed incapable of caring either way, and a few die-hard Seta or Amagi fans were taking it pretty hard. The rest of the school? Totally into it - but that was okay. Everyone could go all soppy over this perfect match and perfect everything and maybe Chie would wake up tomorrow and fit right in again after all.

"It sucks, doesn't it?"

Chie looked back at Rise, opened her mouth to speak – then though better of it. "Yeah," she said after a long pause. "It does."

"I thought I—you know. That maybe Souji-senpai would—" Rise shook her head. "I mean, I'm _Risette_!" she added, with a laugh like porcelain.

Chie bit her lip. Even Risette didn't stand a chance with Souji. And nobody but Souji stood a chance with Yukiko.

"But he didn't," Rise said, quietly. "He didn't."

"I don't care about Souji," Chie blurted. 

"That's pretty obvious, Chie-senpai."

Chie swallowed, hard.

Best friends were hard to come by. She was lucky enough to have two. She'd even fallen in love with one of them. Problem was, being her, she'd messed up and picked the wrong one. And now everything was going wrong with the other one, too, because she couldn't look at him without thinking, _she was mine before she ever met you._

She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the mirror. The whole thing _hurt_ , like a hand shoving through her ribs, crunching the bones. Her chest kept seizing up on itself, like she was about to cry or yell or something equally dumb that wouldn't do a thing to change how Yukiko felt.

"...I saw them," she said.

Rise was kicking her feet against the counter and staring down at her shoes. "Where?"

"The shopping district." The thought of it made her stomach feel as heavy as lead. "They were. You know. Kissing."

"Oh."

It'd been at the entrance to the shrine, on a quiet Sunday morning when Chie had been out for her usual run. She'd only watched – glanced, really – for about three seconds, but even at the time she'd wondered exactly what and how long it would take to burn those three seconds out of her mind. Souji had cupped the back of Yukiko's head, dark hair spilling through his fingers, pulled her close and—

Again, Chie turned on the taps and splashed water at her face, this time getting it on the counter and her track jacket.

"They've got a lot in common," Rise said half-heartedly.

"I guess."

They kind of _did_. They were both smart. They both had Plans. Yukiko was going to run a famous inn and Souji was going to university and the best Chie had come up was maybe, possibly wanting to be a cop, mostly because it sounded kind of cool and the careers counselor had insisted she write something down on that stupid slip of paper. _Everyone_ on the team knew what they were doing, except her and Yosuke, whose grand plan so far had consisted of moving with Ted to the same town as whatever university Souji picked.

Fact was, it wasn't good enough just to try, to do your best. Souji was going places. Souji deserved Yukiko.

Again, Chie remembered them kissing: the way Yukiko had leaned back slightly, hands clasped instead of gripping Souji's shoulders, and how Chie hadn't actually been able to see her face. Maybe all that meant something? Put the pieces together and maybe you got some sort of picture, one that didn't hurt to look at. Or more likely, you just got what made the most sense.

"It's not impossible," Rise was saying. "Maybe if you told her, Yukiko-senpai would—"

"No, she wouldn't," Chie cut in, because hearing it out loud would somehow make everything ten times worse. "But thanks for saying it."

Rise slammed her palms against the counter. "I'm not just saying it! I _tried_ with Souji-senpai, I really did, but you – you haven't—" Then, before Chie could tell her to shut the hell up, she shook her head. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

Her eyes were brimming with tears and she kept biting her lip and above all else, this was Rise. Chie couldn't find it in herself to stay angry, especially when she felt like doing the same thing. "No worries," she said, straightening up from the sink.

No worries at all, right?

Chie let out a long, slow breath. "You can't always have what you want," she said, to nobody in particular. Especially when all it would do is cause problems. Yukiko would probably think she was a freak, and even on the off-chance that she _didn't_ , Inaba was a too-small town. There were rules. Stories that had to be followed.

Rise sniffled and wiped at her eyes. "M-Maybe not."

Out in the corridor, the bell rang. "Gonna be okay for class?"

"Thought I might cut it." Rise managed a watery smile. "Risette can get away with a lot. Wanna come with?"

There wasn't much to smile about at all – but Chie still tried to return it. "Nah, my grades are already awful enough. Have fun, though."

"Okay. Take care, Chie-senpai." With a quick nod, Rise hopped down from the counter and slipped out of the door.

Chie ought to get going too. Yukiko and Souji were probably waiting. Give it long enough, even Hanamura would notice she was gone.

She stayed there for a few moments longer, watching herself in the mirror, then turned and left the bathroom.


End file.
